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Amazon.com: Radiohead Photos More from Radiohead
OK Computer | 
The Bends | 
Kid A | 
Pablo Honey | 
Amnesiac | 
The Astoria London Live | Amazon.com: Filling the gulf between OK Computer's epic progressive rock and Kid A's skittering electronic theatrics, Hail to the Thief borrows equally from each. Its title implies that this will be a collection filled with songs of anger and dissent, but Radiohead no longer howl at the moon like they did on 1995's The Bends. Instead, they use eloquent metaphors and complicated arrangements to express the uncertainty, fear and anger arising from the 2000 U.S. presidential election and a post-9/11 world. There’s no doubt about where Thom Yorke and company stand; the prog-rock break on "2 + 2 = 5" and Yorke's terror at the thought of being "put in a dock" make that immediately clear. But there's a prevailing sense of powerlessness here. The tinkling piano behind the cold sonic surface of "Backdrifts" and the brief, swooping melody in the middle of "Sail to the Moon" are islands in a sea of confusion. Like the band's best work, Thief requires more than a few listens to fully appreciate, but those who stick around will be richly rewarded. --Matthew Cooke Customer Reviews: Rating: 
Date: 2008-04-27
A little dull
Frankly I thought this album was dead boring. Then again I don't really like Radiohead in the first place. If you do like them I guess you'd probably like this album, but if you prefer your music a little more lively it might not be for you. Rating: 
Date: 2008-04-26
Best Radiohead to date
I remember when this came out I was a young buck and my musical tastes, as always, were rapidly changing. I was just coming out of a period were I was into bands like Godsmack and Three Days Grace and Papa Roach and other bands of the like that I am now extremely embarressed to associate myself with. Hail to the Thief was the first Radiohead CD, aside from a live one which I don't count, that I ever heard. I used to listen to it while I cleaned my barracks room or played Ghost Recon with my friend. I didn't get it the first half dozen times I listened to it and then gradually I started liking it more and more. I can honestly say that this album just gets better and better with each listen, and I have probably listened to the whole album about 50 times now. Now, I am not prone to hyperbole normally, but this is a masterpiece. I have read other critics who don't like the dissenence or the praise that radiohead gets. I, however, as a songwriter, know how easy it is to get trapped into playing tonic, 4th, 5th, and minor 6th based songs, since theory is set in stone and those 12 notes between ocaves, and their intervals, and the laws of harmony are more or less set in stone. So it is really refreshing to find Chopin's, Beethoven's and in my opinion, Radioheads - musicians who can make amazing, unique, listenable music with odd intervals. Not to mention the incredible rhythms that sound like a map of a dream. And to top that all off is Thom Yorke's amazing surreal lyrics. I think my first love was of Mxysamatosis. I can't go into the specific lines of lyric that are outstanding because I would be writing all night. This album is also a concept album in that it is unified by a theme and works better being listened to as a whole album than just a song here and there, although certain songs can be enjoyed outside the frame of the album, such as There, There. You may ask what theme is it? To which I would reply, to me, it's dreamish, and haunting. It reminds me the oxymoron of feeling smart and different and completely isolated from everyone else because of ackward social skills. This album has gotten flak from my friends for being pretentious. It is not pretentious at all. I don't know how anyone could honestly believe that. I certainly know that some musicians use different intervals and rhythms for the sake of being different, which I don't know whether I should think that's bad or good. But this album definetly does not that fit that category. Listen to it and you know that there is no other way to express Radiohead's soul than this complex sound. It is complex by nature, not by virtue of being complex. This album has been there for me in so many good and bad times of my life and has never failed to make me feel amazing. I remember reading M. Ward on the linear notes of a John Fahey album talking about if it was possible to have a significant moment in one's life, comprable to a first love, or the death of a parent, by hearing an album. I think every music fanatic knows that this is most definetly true, and this album along with Miles Davis's Kind of Blue, John Fahey's Yellow Princess stands as one of the pillars of my musical foundation. I can not imagine my life without this album. Rating: 
Date: 2008-04-06
An entertaining synthesis of their rock and IDM sides, but with much dead weight
There was a lot of suspense in the months leading up to Radiohead's 2003 album HAIL TO THE THIEF. No one was sure if the band would go further into the IDM territory of the electronics-laden KID A and Amnesiac, or if they would return to the more radio-friendly style of their masterpiece OK COMPUTER.
HAIL TO THE THIEF surprisingly managed to include both styles. In some songs, such as "2 + 2 = 5" or "Sail to the Moon", traditional instruments are in the fore. On other songs, especially "The Gloaming", "Where I End and You Begin", "Backdrifts" the sound is mainly electronics-based. There's also some fresh new elements, such as the use of three percussionists in "There There". Lyrically, the album often returns to some extent to the theme of existential crisis that made OK COMPUTER so perfectly capture the Zeitgeist. "2 + 2 = 5", "Sail to the Moon", "Backdrifts", and "The Gloaming" express uncertainty over our future and distrust in our politicians and decision makers, but thankfully without political references that would be quickly dated.
Unfortunately, HAIL TO THE THIEF is padded with several songs that would have been better relegated to b-sides. Instead of a tight and consistently quality album, the band inexplicably dediced to include the uncharacteristic classic rock "A Punch-Up at a Wedding", the very generic "Scatterbrain" and "I Will", and the unsatisfying closer "A Wolf at a Door". As one major critic's review stated, it's a good album instead of a great one. Overall, I personally prefer OK COMPUTER and IN RAINBOWS to it. Rating:
Date: 2008-03-05
one of their best
I know this isnt one of their most popular albums but I think its one of their best. I think its their best after Kid A , The Bends, & Ok Computer. Their best albums in order IMO:
Kid A
The Bends
Ok Computer
Hail to the Thief
In Rainbows
Amnesiac
Pablo Honey
On a side note, Thom Yorke's solo album The Eraser is a great album & IMO just as good as this album. Rating: 
Date: 2008-02-13
In Rainbows Part 1 (In Parts)
Regardless of some of the grumbling about this release, 'Hail To The Thief' contains some of Radiohead's best work.
At fourteen tracks however it's overall quality is diminished and the ten track 'In Rainbows' would seem to indicate a lesson learned - not that disc two of In Rainbows contains any inferior material.
The band have said that nobody was happy with this record, themselves included. I feel that the omission of three or four of the tracks would have helped, bringing greater focus to the remainder both for the band and for the listener.
For example, the 'Com Lag' e.p. contains the 'L.A. version' of the song 'I Will'. I never really cared for the original version found on 'Hail To The Thief' but the L.A version sounds fully formed and would have been a great addition to the album.
Once the 'b-sides' are removed what you have are some exhilarating and incredible songs, the best of which are:
2+2=5
Backdrifts
Go To Sleep
Where I End And You Begin
There There
After four years I still love these songs and 'There There' has been my favorite Radiohead song since I first heard it, only rivaled by '15 Step' from 'In Rainbows'.
'Scatterbrain' and 'A Wolf At The Door' are also worthwhile and some people feel that 'A Punchup At A Wedding' is an essential Radiohead track. So, there is much to enjoy here and the quality, in places, is equal to 'In Rainbows'. |
